Species name:
Owston’s civet (Chrotogale owstoni)
IUCN Red Listing Status:
Endangered
Description:
This enigmatic, slender-bodied small carnivore belongs to the Viverridae family, an ancient family of “cat-like” animals. Despite their feline resemblance, civets are more closely related to mongoose and weasels, as evidenced by their long bodies and their delicate movement through the shadows. Like other civet species, Owston’s civets are nocturnal, solitary and highly elusive, making them extremely difficult to study in the wild.
What we do know about Owston’s civets is that they are primarily insectivorous and ground-dwelling. Their pelage coloration and pattern help them disappear into depths of the forest floor. Their stripes and spots help them blend into leaf litter, where they forage for earthworms by night and sleep in tree hollows during the day.
Where they’re found:
Restricted to Vietnam, Laos and a small portion of China, the Owston’s civet has only one last remaining stronghold: the Annamite Mountains of Vietnam.
Why they’re at risk:
Unfortunately, their range is now surrounded by a rapidly growing threat: the civet coffee industry.
Civet coffee is produced by feeding beans to captive civets, who pass them through their digestive tracts, a process that leaves them partially digested and uniquely fermented. It’s now one of the fastest growing segments of the luxury coffee market. Across Asia, civet species are captured en masse to be housed in intensive farms where they are force-fed coffee.
The civet coffee industry is not only an animal welfare nightmare, it causes significant risks to biodiversity conservation and multispecies health.
Ironically, Owston’s civets do not eat coffee cherries, and yet they are being driven to extinction from the snares placed in their habitat to catch their relatives, the species who can produce civet coffee. Once captured, Owston’s civets are smuggled into the illegal pet and meat trades via the same farms where other civet species are exploited for coffee production.
The civet coffee industry is not only unethical and cruel, it‘s also truly unnecessary, as its only sale value is based on novelty and the false marketing claims of exclusivity and high social status.
Who’s trying to save them:
Unfortunately, civets have gone largely ignored in scientific and animal advocacy circles, despite the numerous threats that these species face. This is why I founded The Civet Project Foundation: to tackle the civet coffee industry and to highlight the wonders of these amazing civet species.
As the leading voice for civet species, the foundation’s mission is to protect them from exploitation through collaborative, inclusive and scientifically driven research and public outreach.
Established as a nonprofit just two years ago, we’ve already made significant achievements in this arena. Every April 4 (the anniversary of the Owston’s civet conservation action plan agreement) we hold World Civet Day, a day of global civet celebration. This year World Civet Day reached an estimated 400,000 people. Our work highlighting the civet coffee industry has brought the issue into schools, colleges, universities, and zoos globally. And we’ve had over 200 animal advocacy organizations join forces with us to campaign for the end of civet coffee tourism by engaging with policy makers and industry leaders for policy change. We were the first organization to get agreement from Booking.com, TUI, AirBnB, Klook, Viator, and Tripadvisor to stop the marketing and sale of civet coffee tourism, and we are now working around the clock to keep these organizations accountable to their promises.
Most exciting, however, is the development of The Civet Project’s upcoming flagship project – The Civet One Health initiative, the world’s first One Health program targeting the commercial farming of civets for civet coffee and civet meat. Designed as a multiyear and interdisciplinary program, the program will work with stakeholders (local communities, farmers, restaurant owners, civet coffee tour operators, and the public) to end commercial civet farming in Vietnam to protect civets, humans, and the environment.
My favorite experience:
My own favorite experience in this journey has been visiting Vietnam while producing our award-winning documentary, From Rare to Reckless, where we traced the truth behind the world’s most expensive coffee and documented its consequences for animal welfare, conservation and human health.
While what we found in the civet farms was truly harrowing, the highlight of the trip was seeing Owston’s civets who had been rescued from exploitation and meeting the people who are working tirelessly to rid the species’ natural habitat from indiscriminate snaring.
This is why I advocate so heavily for Owston’s civet: there is hope. There‘s a future for this species which can be achieved through collaboration, raising awareness and collective action. Together, we can stop the civet coffee industry. Together, we can save civet species.
You can help Owston’s civets by:
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- Watching and sharing our documentary to help us spread awareness of the civet coffee industry;
- Signing our petition to hold Tripadvisor accountable to their own animal welfare policy by stopping the sale of civet coffee tours on their platform.
Share your stories: Do you live in or near a threatened habitat or community, or have you worked to study or protect endangered wildlife? You’re invited to share your stories in our ongoing features, Protect This Place and Save This Species.
Previously in The Revelator:
